Urinary Tract Infections
Hello I am Dr. Mike. Urinary tract infection is a very common problem found in dogs. Unfortunately,
many pet owners may not realize their pet has an infection. For a brief overview of
urinary tract infections in dogs, we are going to visit with Dr. Jeff Glass. Urinary tract
infection is an infection that occurs in the urinary tract. This is usually divided up
into three different places it can occur. It can be in the lower urinary tract, which
is below the bladder, in the bladder, or above the bladder in the kidneys. It is very difficult
to know where dogs get urinary tract infections from. Sometimes it can be from the skin, sometimes
it can be from lying on a contaminated environment, and sometimes it can be something that comes
by the blood. To be very frank with you, we don't really know where these infections come
from in many cases. The science of urinary tract infections can be very varied. Sometimes
we'll find a urinary tract infection coincidentally with the dog showing no signs at all, and
sometimes it can be where owners will complain about the dog urinating more frequently, urinating
small amounts, blood in the urine, even pain urinating, and sometimes we'll see dogs that
will drink more, and that can often be a sign of urinary tract infection. To diagnose urinary
tract infection, it will be based on the clinical signs that your dog will show. It's always
important to try to get a urine sample to be able to get a correct diagnosis. If there's
evidence of infection, it would be a good idea to get a culture of the urine as well.
Collecting the sample can be done in various ways. You can either bring a sample in to
your veterinarian, or they can collect one using a catheter. The best way to get a sample
would be to get it directly from the bladder because that's a sterol sample with no contaminate
at all, and therefore if we do see a problem or infection, we know that it's actually in
the bladder or alternatively in the kidneys. The way that this is done is by putting a
needle directly into the bladder, which can be done by holding the bladder or alternatively
with an ultrasound to guide the needle into the bladder. Both of those ways sound more
dramatic than they really are, but it's no pain or discomfort or risk to your pet at
all. It's important to diagnose urinary tract infections early because sometimes the infection
that you see or the bacteria that you see in the bladder can be only part of the problem.
What happens is that bacteria cannot survive in a very acidic urine, which is the normal
urine of a dog. What the bacteria does is they release enzymes, which change the pH,
in other words, make that no longer acidic and make it something called alkaline. When
that happens, there's a chemical procedure that happens and that results in crystals
often forming in the bladder. These crystals can be very irritating to
the bladder, and when many crystals form together, they can result in bladder stones.
Often it is necessary to remove these stones by a surgery. Also this infection can then
migrate up into the kidneys and result in a kidney infection, which is a lot more dangerous
and serious than a bladder infection. If you treat the infection early, we can avoid this
from happening. Treatment of the bladder infection is very varied. It can depend on the bacteria
that you find in the urine, which ideally you want to diagnose on a culture, and when
you do a culture you can then do a sensitivity. What a sensitivity is, is you are testing
the bacteria against various types of antibiotics to determine which is the best antibiotic
to kill of that infection. Usually, that is all that is necessary if it's a bacterial
infection. There can be different types of fungal yeast infections, but those are pretty
rare. If there are stones or crystals in the bladder, sometimes they can be
dissolved by various foods, and sometimes it's necessary to do surgery to remove those
stones. After completing the course of antibiotics, it is really important to know that the infection
is absolutely resolved. This can be done by collecting a urine sample and sending it off
to the lab for a culture where they will attempt to grow out the bacteria that were in the
bladder. If the culture is negative, we can know for sure that this infection is gone.
Sometimes we will see that different bacteria can grow, or alternatively, we will find that
the same bacteria is continuing to grow, which either means that we have not resolved the
problem, or that we have a resistant bug and we need to change to different kind of antibiotic.
It is important to recognize the signs of a urinary tract infection. If not diagnosed,
these infections can lead to a severe illness or even formation of bladder stones. Many
dogs do not show any clinical signs of an infection.
That is why I recommend that your pet have a urinalysis performed during their routine
physical exam. I am Dr. Mike and thanks for watching.